Vocabulary
Introducing sports vocabulary
Introducing sports vocabulary
Canada can offer a wide range of sports and outdoor activities due to the existence of huge open spaces throughout the country. Such spaces include numerous lakes and rivers which are also used for water sports such as rafting, fishing, ice skating, kayak and so on.
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| By Icky Pic, C. Commons |
Ice hockey is probably the most popular sport in Canada. Canadians refer to it as just hockey. Paco learned a lot about this sport from John, the guide who took them on a tour around Ottawa. For Canadians, hockey is their passion.
Modern hockey might have its origins in European sports brought to Canada by immigrants, such as hurling (an Irish sport) and versions of other sports. John told him that the first organized hockey game was played in Montreal in 1875. Little by little, the game became very popular and was improved with new rules. Finally, the teams which were competing at the time organized a league.
Around 1900 there were already women's teams in Canada. The enthusiasm grew very fast and it is still today a very popular sport among women in this country.
Hockey has taken part in the Winter Olympic Games since 1924 and Canada won most of the first gold medals. Finally John recommended Paco not to miss a match if he had the opportunity. Good idea!
Self-Assessment activity1. The existence of many rivers and lakes in Canada makes water sports very popular.
Verdadero Falso
Verdadero Falso
Verdadero Falso
Verdadero Falso
Sports related vocabulary
Sports related vocabulary
Sport is one of the most
popular topics for conversation. To learn the words you need for conversations
about sport, have a look at these sports vocabulary lists. On this
page you can find general sports vocabulary.
But before putting all this vocabulary into practice, we need to learn first, the difference between these three verbs when we talk about practising a sport: DO - GO - PLAY. As a general rule, you can use "play" with any competitive game that you can play, normally with sports that use a ball. Use "go" with activities that can be done alone, and with sports that end in -ing, and "do" with groups of related activities. Examples:
Next Friday I want to play tennis
I usually do yoga on Mondays
He used to go
jogging every day when he was at university
We also use many various types of equipment and clothing to play different sports. In general we can say that:
- For most ball games you need boots or training shoes (trainers BrE; sneakers AmE)
- For many sports you need a racket (tennis, squash, badminton, paddle)
- For golf you need clubs
- In some other sports (tennis, volleyball, badminton) there is a net across the middle of the court
- For some sports (motor racing, formula 1, cycling) you need a helmet
- Places and people have also special names in different sports. Have a look at these expressions:
A pitch, is the playing area where these sports are played: football, rugby, hockey, cricket and baseball.
A court, is used for tennis, volleyball, basketball, squash, and badminton.
A track, is for athletics, horse racing and motor racing.
A rink, is for ice hockey and ice skating.
A ring is mainly used for boxing.
A pool is for swimming.
A course is to play golf.
- People who watch a sport are called spectators. Players are those who play a sport, individual or team games. In a team there is usually a captain and a coach, a trainer and a manager. Football and rugby, for example, have a referee, and they also have two linesmen (football), but tennis and baseball have an umpire, and in tennis line judges.